I remember a while back seeing a pictorial of someone who put their cooled wort into a bottling bucket and then aerated by elevating the bottling bucket, opening the spigot and letting it fall into the primary.

Is this process better/more effective than simply rocking the primary back and forth a bit (which is what I've always done)?

Regardless of the method of aeration they all accomplish the same thing. Its really what works best for the brewer. For me if it's under 3 gallons I'll pick it up and shake it. If it's more than three gallons I pour it back and forth between two buckets a few times.

I remember a while back seeing a pictorial of someone who put their cooled wort into a bottling bucket and then aerated by elevating the bottling bucket, opening the spigot and letting it fall into the primary.

Is this process better/more effective than simply rocking the primary back and forth a bit (which is what I've always done)?

dont know i always shake it. it may be a little better but i never tried. to me its just another container you have to make sure is bug free

Yeast need oxygen for sterol synthesis. Without sterols the cell membrane is not as permeable. Which means the yeast can't get as much sugar as they would like. As a result they can't complete processes. So you get more byproducts, less yeast growth and potentially a stalled fermentation.

I remember a while back seeing a pictorial of someone who put their cooled wort into a bottling bucket and then aerated by elevating the bottling bucket, opening the spigot and letting it fall into the primary.

Is this process better/more effective than simply rocking the primary back and forth a bit (which is what I've always done)?

That will work for you but as it drains you may want to take a sanitized stirrer and agitate the wort in the bucket a few times also.

You can only get to a certain level of O2 density in wort when using air to go beyond it you need to use pure 02. All the aeration methods are basically the same as long as you are thorough until you start using pure 02. And YES 02 is very important for yeast reproductions and growth.